


fire starter

by timelording



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 01:52:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7555507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timelording/pseuds/timelording
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holtz likes to set things on fire.<br/>Erin isn't sure if she does it on purpose, or if they're all truly an accident, but she's taken to making a sign. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>'0 DAYS SINCE OUR LAST LAB FIRE', it currently reads in thick black letters. She's not confident that the number will ever change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fire starter

Holtz likes to set things on fire.  
Erin isn't sure if she does it on purpose, or if they're all truly an accident, but she's taken to making a sign.

' **0 DAYS SINCE OUR LAST LAB FIRE** ', it currently reads in thick black letters. She's not confident that the number will ever change.  
Patty finds the sign hilarious- she's also equally as sure that it will always remain at 'zero'.

  
"I don't think that girl can go a day without setting at least one thing on fire," she says with a laugh.  
Erin frowns- it's almost a pout. "Do you think it's intentional?" She asks Patty as they stare at the sign hung in the stairwell to the second floor.

  
"I don't know _what_ goes on in that crazy head of hers, baby." Erin nods, resigned. She hears a muffled yell from the lab, followed by Holtzmann's voice.

" _Yep, that should definitely not be on fire!_ ”

Erin sighs and grabs the fire extinguisher she has now become accustomed to carrying around the fire house. She had actually been forced to buy a fire extinguisher not too long after they set up shop in the fire house.

  
"This is a fire house for god's sake! How is there not a single fire extinguisher anywhere?" she had screeched, frantically trying to pat down the growing flames, while Holtzmann cackled behind her.

  
She had gone out and bought it once it had been established that the smoldering wires on Holtzmann's work bench were not going to burst into flames again.

  
Erin has also taken to spending most of her time in Holtzmann's lab- to make sure the building doesn't burn down, of course. Most of her work can be done at the desk that she's pretty sure Holtz only set up because Erin is always _hovering_ . She keeps her fire extinguisher at arms reach at all times.

  
She'd never admit that Holtz's uncanny ability to set fire to anything isn't the only reason she hangs around so often.

* * *

 

  
It took Holtzmann about three days to realize that every fire she started, Erin was putting it out within seconds.

  
After Erin had proudly shown off her shiny new fire extinguisher to the rest of the team, it became her constant companion.

  
Holtz notices when Erin starts to spend all her time in her lab, so she discreetly drags in a desk for Erin to use. She theorizes that it's only polite, seeing as how Erin has been running behind her and putting out fires for about a month now.

  
Holtz isn't one to necessarily go _looking_ for danger (except for that's exactly what she does on a daily basis), but if setting fires gets Erin to spend time with her, she'll take it. It quickly becomes a daily routine for them; Holtz does her work, with the occasional fire here and there (read: at least six times a day), while Erin puts out the fires.

  
Holtz thinks Erin looks cutest when she's scolding her, face flushed pink and her hair in disarray from her frantic flailings with the extinguisher.

  
Does Holtz set fires on purpose?

  
Unsubstantiated.

* * *

  
The morning starts off normally enough. Erin walks into what has now become _their_ lab and says good morning to Holtzmann, who is already tinkering away at her workbench.

  
Holtz looks up at Erin's greeting and cracks a grin, a smile so bright it momentarily leaves Erin breathless.

  
The smile quickly turns into a wolfish grin, the one that makes Erin all warm and tingly inside.

  
"Good morning, Dr. Gilbert," Holtz says enthusiastically, and something in the tone of her voice instantly has Erin apprehensive. She stops short as Holtz brandishes one of her blowtorches.

  
"Uh," Erin sputters out. "What are you doing?"

  
Mischievous grin still wide, Holtz lights the blowtorch with a misleadingly gentle _pff_ . Erin is frozen in place as she watches Holtz (who has locked eyes with Erin) hold the flame directly to a pile of what Erin can only assume are incredibly greasy work rags.

  
"Holtzmann!" She exclaims. She can only watch with horrified eyes as the small pile is immediately engulfed in flames.

  
Erin is frozen for a second before she jumps into action frantically, watching the fire spread across the table. She nervously grabs for the extinguisher while Holtzmann jumps back from the table, her smile almost maniacal now.

  
Erin begins to spray the fire extinguisher, waving it everywhere in her attempt to douse the flames, screaming as she does so.

  
"That was on purpose, Holtzmann, I _saw_ that!" She screeches. She sees Holtz shrug out of the corner of her eye.

  
"I'm not sure I know what you're referring to Erin, I'm just trying to do my work," she says innocently.

  
Erin just lets out a wordless yell as she finally puts out the last of the flames. She sees Abby and Patty enter the lab, but she ignores them and turns to Holtzmann.

  
"You have to stop being so reckless, Holtz," Erin pleads. "We work around hazardous material!" Holtz only chuckles.

"Aw, come on Erin, as if I'd ever set the _dangerous_ things on fire," she says with a cocky grin.

  
Erin's mouth drops open and she's silent for a second before- “ _You lit the last experimental containment unit on fire and it almost decimated the whole block!_ ” She sees Abby flinch at the high pitch of her voice, but Holtzmann only continues to smile at her.

  
"You were there to put it out though!" Holtz rubs the back of her neck almost awkwardly. "So it was all fine, right?"

  
Erin sighs exasperatedly and shakes her head. She's _upset_ with Holtz, she shouldn't find her this endearing.

  
"What can I say," Holtzmann says. "You start a fire in me." She punctuates it with a suggestive wink.

  
Erin was already flushed and red, but she's pretty sure her own face might actually be on fire. _Good thing I have the fire extinguisher_ , she thinks weakly.  
She distantly hears Patty's bark of laughter.

  
"Oh, come on, Holtzy, you're gonna give the poor girl a heart attack," Patty says, ushering Abby out of the lab with her. "Just tell her," she calls over her shoulder on the way out. Erin watches her exit, then turns back to Holtzmann now leaning against the table.

  
"Tell me- uh, tell me what, Holtz?"

  
Holtz pushes off the table and walks over to Erin.

  
"I've noticed that you've started spending more time in my lab," Holtz starts. "I've also noticed that you're incredibly adept at putting out spontaneous fires- were you a firefighter in a previous life?" She looks at Erin curiously, and Erin, physicist and professor, can't manage to string two words together, so Holtz continues.

"Inconclusive," she says, with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I've also noticed that in certain light, your eyes are a steely gray color, instead of the normal blue." She steps closer, and Erin is still lost for words, and still breathlessly hoping she isn't _actually_ on fire.

"I've noticed that you wear your favorite MIT sweater when you didn't get enough sleep the night before, because it makes you feel comfortable. I've noticed that you always pick the onions off of everything you eat that has them, and that you only ever drink a cup and a half of coffee every morning, never more and never less." She stops, and Erin is sure that she's going to melt into the floor.

  
Holtz meets her eyes again. "I've also noticed you watching me," she says.

  
"I- I don't-" Erin stutters out, before her brain hits overdrive, and then she blurts out- "Can I kiss you?"

  
There's a beat of silence.

  
"No," Holtz says, but Erin's spirit doesn't even have the chance to fall before a wide grin spreads across Holtzmann's face.

  
"I'm just kidding, bring it in," she says, and Erin quickly closes the distance between them.

  
"You're an asshole," she mumbles into Holtzmann's lips, but the words are lost.

* * *

 

  
The next morning, Erin finds a brand new fire extinguisher on her desk. It's decked out in Halloween-style ghost stickers, and there's a note taped to it. Erin peels it off to read it.

‘ _you're cute when you play fire fighter_  
_xo, holtz_ '


End file.
